Encourages respect and appreciation for cultural differences

When schools across Singapore put their students on full home-based learning (HBL) on April 8 as part of the circuit breaker measures, Ms Adele Leong remembers the wide-eyed look of hope in her daughter Carolyn's eyes. "Are they going to be postponing the PSLE or cancelling it? How are we going to sit the exams now schools are closed?" she recalls her 11-year-old asking. Ms Leong, 44, is one of many parents grappling with the unprecedented academic changes the coronavirus pandemic has brought. The Ministry of Education (MOE) cancelled all mid-year examinations, but is still proceeding with national ones such as the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), as well as the N, O and A levels, as it says these are "major milestones" and it does not want to disadvantage graduating students. "Technically, it's not my first time doing the PSLE, but since the circumstances are so different, I might as well say it's my first time because it's hard to expect what's to come," says Ms ... » Learn More about Fretting over big exams in a time of Covid-19

Perched on a glen atop the rugged Caraballo mountain range, at Nueva Vizcaya’s remote border with Pangasinan, Malico lies in blissful seclusion—the perfect haven for tired souls seeking solace in this hurried world. Rising up at 1,348 meters above sea level, the quaint village enjoys crisp, cool weather for most part of the year. The best times of the day are the early morning when the surrounding is blanketed by a fine white mist and the grasses are still wet with dew; the late afternoon when the setting sun turns the Western horizon into a canvas of vivid colors; and the mid-evening when all is dark and still, and you are lulled by the deafening sound of silence. Malico teems with pine trees that beckon you to put on your trekking shoes and go on a slow hike and pristine waterfalls that invites you to take a lingering dip in the natural pools below. Or, if you feel like not doing anything, simply head out to the edge of the ridge and take in the panoramic view of the lushed ... » Learn More about Malico: The focus of my Personal Social Responsibility journey

BRUSSELS : European Union leaders no longer meet around a common oval summit table to broker their famed compromises. Instead, each of the 27 watches the other heads of state or government with suspicion via a video screen that shows a mosaic of faraway capitals. This is what Covid-19 has wrought. Lofty hopes that the crisis would encourage a new and tighter bloc to face a common challenge have given way to the reality of division: The pandemic has set member nation against member nation, and many capitals against the EU itself, as symbolized by the disjointed, virtual meetings the leaders now hold. Leaders fight over everything from virus passports to push tourism to the conditions for receiving pandemic aid. Perhaps worse, some attack the very structures the EU built to deal with the pandemic. Last month, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz decried how vaccine-buying in the bloc had become a “bazaar,” alleging poorer countries struck out while the rich thrived. “Internal ... » Learn More about EU and Covid-19: When a vaccine only adds to the trouble